GABRIEL PIERNÉ

 

Sophie Arnould (Opera in one act)

 

Sophie Arnould, Opera in one act (1926 Huegal edition, Paris)

Ballet de cour, six dance tunes (1901/1904 Huegal edition, Paris)

 

Sophie Marin-Degor (Sophie Arnould), Jean-Sébastien Bou (Dorval), Doris Lamprecht (Babet)

Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg / Nicolas Chalvin

 

French composer Gabriel Pierné distinguished himself in all genres, including of course Opera. He thus completed a light opera in one act in 1926 Sophie Arnould, based on the text of the play in verse by his friend Gabriel Nigond.  Sophie Arnould was probably the most famous and adulated prima donna of the second half of the 18th Century, a great performer of the works of Rameau and Gluck.  Magnificently well written for the voice, this work moreover shows a rare virtuosity by the orchestra, the latter displaying a subtlety that is very 18th Century.

 

Review in the November edition of the BBC Music Magazine: ‘This is a real find’ performance 5 stars and sound 4 stars. IRR October edition: ‘proves itself a piece of touching insight, assured, poetic and subtle’.

 

Tampani 1C1124